CSS 506

1
CSS 506

• AQUA GROUP
• ACTION RESEARCH

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Introduction

• History and evolution
• Attributes
• Methodology
• Disciplines involved
• Strengths and weaknesses
• Two examples

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Thinking on your feet
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ACTION RESEARCH

• Has always been linked with social change for
  social justice (McNiff and Whitehead, 2006).
• Asks the question How can the situation be
  understood, and how can it be changed?

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Action Research

• John Collier Commissioner of Bureau of Indian
  Affairs in 1930s First to examine group work
  and explore ways to achieve better results.
• Kurt Lewin 1940s People are more motivated to
  work when they are involved in the
  decision-making process. Coined phrase Action
  Research.
• Began as an approach to management (and manager)
  development

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Action Research

• Stephen M. Corey (1950s)
• The teacher had only one year experience Which
  she repeated for thirty years. (Corey, 1954)
• Early work devoted to Education
• -Action Research to Improve School Practices.
  Corey, Stephen, 1953. Teachers College, Columbia
  University, NY.
• -Childrens Social Values. Foshay, A. and Kenneth
  D. Wann, 1954. Teachers College, Columbia
  University, NY.

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Action Research

• Donald ShÖn (1960s and 70s)
• SchÖns central argument was that change was a
  fundamental feature of modern life and that it is
  necessary to develop social systems that could
  learn and adapt.
• Used the term thinking on your feet.

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Action Research Cycle of Steps

• Observe
• Reflect
• Act
• Evaluate
• Modify

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Action Research Cycle
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Attributes of Action Research

• Shared ownership of research projects
• Community-based analysis of social problems
• Orientation towards community action
• Value-laden
• Led by practitioners
• Open-ended

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Action Research

• Goal of Action Research perceived functionality
  of chosen actions to produce desirable
  consequences for an organization.
• Action Research facilitates the development of
  techniques on how to review, revise and redefine
  the effort in which we are a part.

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Common Names for Action Research

• Action Research
• Action Science
• Participatory Action Research
• Collaborative Action Research
• Advocacy Participatory Research
• Transformative Emancipatory Research
• Practice-Directed Research
• Participatory Research
• Participatory Inquiry

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Context of Development

• Aloof scientists, irrelevant research and
  disconnected practitioners.
• Existence of obvious social problems and a desire
  to act/for action, but unsure how to act.
• Recognize situational, non-discrete systems
  within systems and need for integrated approach
  and enduring resolution (unlike small scale
  biophysical systems).

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Current Methodology

• All are scientists/co-researchers
• Connected practitioners and public
• Complex problems requires lots of resources, not
  just experts.
• Relevance stakeholder involvement,
  planning/collaboration incorporates desires or
  negotiated outcomes, reduces long-term conflict.
  More of an interdependent approach.

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Methodologies

• Two schools of Action Research both disassociate
  themselves with traditional research
• Practice-directed Research
• Emancipatory Action Research

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Methodologies
Action Research is not defined by its methodology
but by the engagement of the participants.

• Those driven by the researchers agenda to
  those driven by participants
• Those motivated by goal attainment to those
  motivated by personal, organizational, or
  societal transformation
• 1st-person research my research on my own
  actions, aimed at personal change
• 2nd-person research our research on our group,
  aimed at improving the group
• 3rd-person research scholarly research, aimed
  at theoretical generalization and large scale
  change.

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Techniques

• Interviews
• Mapping
• Participatory Planning
• Conducting research, then taking action v. taking
  action and collecting data

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Fields of Use

• Education
• Health Care
• Community/Rural Development
• Agriculture and Natural Resources
• Geography
• Architecture/Landscape Architecture
• Planning

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If small rural communities improve their
leadership systems, then these communities will
be able to take action on poverty reduction.
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Examples in CSS Windward Islands Ecotourism
Development

• Stakeholders included environmental groups,
  representatives of local governments, community
  organizations, womens and youth groups, farmers,
  private business owners
• Two action researchers from Toronto were hired to
  facilitate process
• A conference was organized on each island with
  the stakeholders
• The outcome of these was a set of recommendations
  for carrying out nature tourism oriented projects
  at the local community level
• Regular regional meetings were held for
  evaluations and to ensure that the process
  continued
• Three of the four islands were relatively
  successful. The fourth was stifled by the local
  government who felt that power relationships were
  changing.

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Strengths

• User-friendly and accessible to professional
  practitioners and laypeople
• Can improve and enhance quality of life for
  participants
• Inclusive
• Extends knowledge base
• May alleviate interconnected problems
• May transform power systems

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Criticisms Methodologies

• Rigor
• Validity
• Action Research is a poor reporter
• Methodology in Action Research lags behind its
  development in practice
• Inability to capture the richness of events the
  dynamics, encounters, emotions and shifts.
• Double-challenge of time pressure for more
  real time discovery on the one hand, and
  long-term, evidence based learning on the
  other.
• Nuances of cases are difficult to debate, learn
  from, generalize and diffuse.

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Criticisms Approaches

• Is participation always good?
• Is participation always empowering?
• Consultation Fatigue
• Techniques may reinforce informal social
  structures that are potentially negative
• Participation is rarely fully employed

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Summary

• Action Research is cyclical
• Paradigm of Praxis?
• Methodology(ies) continue to evolve

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Walmart

• Introductions
• Decision Making Impact
• How are you going to discover the impact that
  Walmart will have on your community? What are
  specific methods you will use to gain this
  information?